[snusBOX]

@FiiO  Instead of launching a X5v3 this year why not update the firmware to v4.9 and when the community is happy with the performance stop at v5.0C. (Community approved)
And I must say the x5ii in black looks VERY good, with that blue light on the side! really stylish.
 
Big reason for me to choose a brand is updates and support, and so far Fiio looks good!? I'm getting my first FiiO DAP next week in nyc, landed on the x5ii against the x3ii.. Not 100% sure yet, but if in the future my whole music collection is DSD, that extra SD slot would be handy.. It should support 2tb in each when avaliable right, guys?
 
Just to throw it in there, my wish for a X5 3rd gen would be "better" audio, if at all possible for 299$??? And i'm just a little bit worried about the plastic parts sticking out on the 3.5 in/outputs, has anyone experienced problems with them breaking? Maybe FiiO should make the X5 3rd gen Black from the start, and with Blue anodized 3.5 inputs for more ruggedness and to match that sexy blue light on the pwr button! Imo that would have looked nice.
 
edit: I now know the 2.0fw is the final one.

 

[snusBOX]

I also forgot to ask! Is it possible to charge the x5ii while listening? I would rather have a 5-10.000mah batterypack on the back of the player to get longer listening and to save the players battery while on the go!?

 

[osiris1]

  I also forgot to ask! Is it possible to charge the x5ii while listening? I would rather have a 5-10.000mah batterypack on the back of the player to get longer listening and to save the players battery while on the go!?

yes, you can

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Hi,

Could someone explain some of the new FW 2.0 features?

I am unsure what the following settings mean and do not know when you would use each option:



Play Settings -> Lowpass filter mode  (Gradual/Steep) 
Play Settings -> ReplayGain (None/Track/Album)
Play Settings -> Fixed level (0db/-3db/-6db)
System Settings -> SPDIF out (D2P/DoP)



Thanks very much,

Shannon

Bear in mind that my understanding of these features only amounted to the explanation I received when translating these UI features while the features themselves were still a work in progress, in additional to my inherent understanding of such things from my studies. (i.e. I never had an X5 2nd Gen in hand)

Lowpass filter mode: http://www.head-fi.org/t/786112/official-x5-2nd-gen-beta-firmware-download-and-discussion-thread-version-1-27-library-search-function-replaygain-filter-options/60#post_12311847

ReplayGain: this adjusts the perceived volume of all tracks to a constant level relative to the same volume number on the X5, so you don't have to push vol+ on a quiet track and vol- on a loud track all the time. For this to work, your tracks have to have ReplayGain info embedded in their tags in the first place using a ReplayGain scanner such as the one available in foobar2000.

Off means this feature is off, which behaves the same as in past firmwares. Track means that tracks are adjusted in volume on a per-track basis. Album means that a whole album of tracks is treated as a single entity in terms of gain adjustment, so a loud album will be brought down in overall volume to match that of a quiet album, but all tracks in each album will receive the same adjustment, so that you don't get volume jumps when playing gaplessly from one track to the next in an album.

Fixed level (0/-3/-6dB): this changes the line out volume from the default 2V (0dB) to 3 or 6 dB quieter than the default. Useful if you have e.g. a car stereo that's getting overloaded by the X5's powerful line out and putting out distorted sound. It was also planned to have a "Variable" line out setting, where the line out volume is adjustable using the main volume, in which case EQ settings might also carry over to the variable line out. Was this other feature ever implemented?

D2P / DoP: D2P stands for DSD to PCM, i.e. converting DSD to PCM before exporting through the S/PDIF digital output, which is the old option available. DoP stands for DSD over PCM. This basically means that the output stream is nominally a PCM stream of e.g. 24bit/176.4kHz, but that the actual data being sent is in DSD format. Sort of like modems sending computer data over a telephone line (if anybody still remembers that), the S/PDIF connection designed for PCM (like the telephone line) is being repurposed to carry a different signal (DSD). If a non-DoP aware device picks up the DoP stream it would output digital rubbish much like what picking up the phone to a fax / modem transmission sounds like, and for much the same reasons. A DoP aware device picking up the DoP stream (that's almost all DSD-capable DACs out there) would receive, decode and play back DSD music data exactly as if the transmission were in DSD format. DoP output should be considered equivalent to native DSD digital output and is indeed the predominant method of natively transmitting DSD data between devices.

If they haven't already done so, I hope FiiO puts up this information somewhere prominently. Otherwise they're letting hard coding effort go to waste... :rolleyes:

 

[x RELIC x]

Spoiler

Bear in mind that my understanding of these features only amounted to the explanation I received when translating these UI features while the features themselves were still a work in progress, in additional to my inherent understanding of such things from my studies. (i.e. I never had an X5 2nd Gen in hand)

Lowpass filter mode: http://www.head-fi.org/t/786112/official-x5-2nd-gen-beta-firmware-download-and-discussion-thread-version-1-27-library-search-function-replaygain-filter-options/60#post_12311847

ReplayGain: this adjusts the perceived volume of all tracks to a constant level relative to the same volume number on the X5, so you don't have to push vol+ on a quiet track and vol- on a loud track all the time. For this to work, your tracks have to have ReplayGain info embedded in their tags in the first place using a ReplayGain scanner such as the one available in foobar2000.

Off means this feature is off, which behaves the same as in past firmwares. Track means that tracks are adjusted in volume on a per-track basis. Album means that a whole album of tracks is treated as a single entity in terms of gain adjustment, so a loud album will be brought down in overall volume to match that of a quiet album, but all tracks in each album will receive the same adjustment, so that you don't get volume jumps when playing gaplessly from one track to the next in an album.

Fixed level (0/-3/-6dB): this changes the line out volume from the default 2V (0dB) to 3 or 6 dB quieter than the default. Useful if you have e.g. a car stereo that's getting overloaded by the X5's powerful line out and putting out distorted sound. It was also planned to have a "Variable" line out setting, where the line out volume is adjustable using the main volume, in which case EQ settings might also carry over to the variable line out. Was this other feature ever implemented?

D2P / DoP: D2P stands for DSD to PCM, i.e. converting DSD to PCM before exporting through the S/PDIF digital output, which is the old option available. DoP stands for DSD over PCM. This basically means that the output stream is nominally a PCM stream of e.g. 24bit/176.4kHz, but that the actual data being sent is in DSD format. Sort of like modems sending computer data over a telephone line (if anybody still remembers that), the S/PDIF connection designed for PCM (like the telephone line) is being repurposed to carry a different signal (DSD). If a non-DoP aware device picks up the DoP stream it would output digital rubbish much like what picking up the phone to a fax / modem transmission sounds like, and for much the same reasons. A DoP aware device picking up the DoP stream (that's almost all DSD-capable DACs out there) would receive, decode and play back DSD music data exactly as if the transmission were in DSD format. DoP output should be considered equivalent to native DSD digital output and is indeed the predominant method of natively transmitting DSD data between devices.

If they haven't already done so, I hope FiiO puts up this information somewhere prominently. Otherwise they're letting hard coding effort go to waste... :rolleyes:

Great info Joe, well explained.

The variable line out is indeed implemented and it works well for my amp that doesn't have enough volume control (gain is too high). Do you know if the variable or fixed line-level adjustments are digitally controlled? Given that it's line-out I would presume it is.

I agree, FiiO should make this information more accessible.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

The variable line out is indeed implemented and it works well for my amp that doesn't have enough volume control (gain is too high). Do you know if the variable or fixed line-level adjustments are digitally controlled? Given that it's line-out I would presume it is.

I agree, FiiO should make this information more accessible.

It's definitely digitally controlled at some level, even your headphone out volume is definitely digitally controlled. It's just not certain whether this digital control is done by way of dividing the digital signal, or by modifying the analog gain (also via a digital potentiometer) somewhere after the DAC. But as you say, the line out ought to be the direct output from the DAC and hence digital division is probably what's happening. I wouldn't worry about it, since your amp's analog noise probably still swamps the quantization noise that's increased relative to the signal because of the division.

Was there perhaps some notes about these features in the firmware update changelog?

 

[x RELIC x]

It's definitely digitally controlled at some level, even your headphone out volume is definitely digitally controlled. It's just not certain whether this digital control is done by way of dividing the digital signal, or by modifying the analog gain (also via a digital potentiometer) somewhere after the DAC. But as you say, the line out ought to be the direct output from the DAC and hence digital division is probably what's happening. I wouldn't worry about it, since your amp's analog noise probably still swamps the quantization noise that's increased relative to the signal because of the division.

Was there perhaps some notes about these features in the firmware update changelog?

No notes that I can see besides what you have in the 2.0 FW thread. Nothing explained on the FiiO site either as far as I can see. I just see a feature list for the line out modes. They also have a link to an out-dated user manual but no expanded explanation of the features listed in the change log. Explanations for features like the different line out modes and the coaxial output modes would be helpful for FiiO's customers. That, and an option to not have a dynamic EQ would be welcomed.

Thanks for the information Joe. I was just curious, it works well.

 

[shamar75]

Bear in mind that my understanding of these features only amounted to the explanation I received when translating these UI features while the features themselves were still a work in progress, in additional to my inherent understanding of such things from my studies. (i.e. I never had an X5 2nd Gen in hand)

Lowpass filter mode: http://www.head-fi.org/t/786112/official-x5-2nd-gen-beta-firmware-download-and-discussion-thread-version-1-27-library-search-function-replaygain-filter-options/60#post_12311847

ReplayGain: this adjusts the perceived volume of all tracks to a constant level relative to the same volume number on the X5, so you don't have to push vol+ on a quiet track and vol- on a loud track all the time. For this to work, your tracks have to have ReplayGain info embedded in their tags in the first place using a ReplayGain scanner such as the one available in foobar2000.

Off means this feature is off, which behaves the same as in past firmwares. Track means that tracks are adjusted in volume on a per-track basis. Album means that a whole album of tracks is treated as a single entity in terms of gain adjustment, so a loud album will be brought down in overall volume to match that of a quiet album, but all tracks in each album will receive the same adjustment, so that you don't get volume jumps when playing gaplessly from one track to the next in an album.

Fixed level (0/-3/-6dB): this changes the line out volume from the default 2V (0dB) to 3 or 6 dB quieter than the default. Useful if you have e.g. a car stereo that's getting overloaded by the X5's powerful line out and putting out distorted sound. It was also planned to have a "Variable" line out setting, where the line out volume is adjustable using the main volume, in which case EQ settings might also carry over to the variable line out. Was this other feature ever implemented?

D2P / DoP: D2P stands for DSD to PCM, i.e. converting DSD to PCM before exporting through the S/PDIF digital output, which is the old option available. DoP stands for DSD over PCM. This basically means that the output stream is nominally a PCM stream of e.g. 24bit/176.4kHz, but that the actual data being sent is in DSD format. Sort of like modems sending computer data over a telephone line (if anybody still remembers that), the S/PDIF connection designed for PCM (like the telephone line) is being repurposed to carry a different signal (DSD). If a non-DoP aware device picks up the DoP stream it would output digital rubbish much like what picking up the phone to a fax / modem transmission sounds like, and for much the same reasons. A DoP aware device picking up the DoP stream (that's almost all DSD-capable DACs out there) would receive, decode and play back DSD music data exactly as if the transmission were in DSD format. DoP output should be considered equivalent to native DSD digital output and is indeed the predominant method of natively transmitting DSD data between devices.

If they haven't already done so, I hope FiiO puts up this information somewhere prominently. Otherwise they're letting hard coding effort go to waste...

Thanks for the reply and information Joe.
 
 
 
Shannon

 

[obbiie]

Has anyone had the opportunity to try the new Audioquest DragonFly Red against the X5ii? 

 

[FiiO]

A Song to Show Your Love for Your Father and Win A FiiO X5! 

For more details ,please feel free to join us here : https://www.facebook.com/FiiOUSA/?fref=ts 
 

 

[x RELIC x]

Too bad I refuse to use Facebook! Good luck everyone else.

 

[Koukol]

Too bad I refuse to use Facebook! Good luck everyone else.

Same here.

 

[Staxophones]

What's Facebook? 

 
Never heard of it.

 

[FiiO]

Staxophones, it is US FiiO facebook !

 

[Joe Bloggs]